Hammer Volume 5: Death & Deceit – More Hammer adventures

This box set collects four films from the early sixties which found the studio looking beyond the horror genre for its next box-office success.

Visa to Canton (1961, released in the US as Passport to China) is a torn-from-the-headlines spy thriller

The Pirates of Blood River (1962), starring Kerwin Mathews (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Christopher Lee (The Face of Fu Manchu), is a swashbuckling adventure

The Scarlet Blade (1963, released in the US as The Crimson Blade) is an English Civil War-set actioner which follows the fortunes of Cromwell’s Roundheads

The Brigand of Kandahar (1965) takes Hammer to the North-West Frontier for an action-adventure starring Ronald Lewis (Taste of Fear) and Oliver Reed (The System)

All four films are presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, while Visa to Canton, The Scarlet Blade and The Brigand of Kandahar make their world Blu-ray premieres. This limited edition box set is strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units.

Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Lindsay Hallam, Jimmy Sangster on The Pirates of Blood River, a selection of promotional materials, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits

THE SCARLET BLADE

High Definition remaster

Original mono audio

Alternative feature presentation with the US The Crimson Blade titles

Audio commentary with film historian Kevin Lyons (2020)

Hammer’s Women: June Thorburn (2020): profile of the Hammer star by film historian Josephine Botting

Interviews with Hugh Harlow and Pauline Wise (2020): the second assistant director and continuity person discuss the making of The Scarlet Blade

Almost an Auteur (2020): horror author and critic Kim Newman on the eclectic career of writer-director John Gilling

David Huckvale on Gary Hughes (2020): appreciation of the film’s score by the author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde

Original US theatrical trailer

Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials

New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Neil Sinyard, an extract from Oliver Reed’s autobiography, a selection of promotional materials, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits